Director: Daniel Espinosa
Producer: Scott Stuber
Writer: David Guggenheim
Cast:
Denzel Washington as Tobin Frost
Ryan Reynolds as Matt Weston
Vera Farmiga as Catherine Linklater
Brendan Gleeson as David Barlow
Sam Shepard as Harlan Whitford
Rubén Blades as Carlos Villar
Nora Arnezeder as Ana Moreau
Robert Patrick as Daniel Kiefer
Music: Ramin Djawadi
Story:
Matt Weston is a CIA rookie who is manning a safe house in Cape Town, South Africa, when Tobin Frost the CIA’s most wanted rogue agent is captured and taken to the safe house. During Frost’s interrogation, the safe house is overtaken by mercenaries who want Frost. Weston and Frost escape and must stay out of the gunmen’s sight until they can get to another safe house.
Review:
‘Safe House’ is what you’d get if Jason Bourne was a 60+ year old guy. The movie borrow ideas from several other movies. The movie had a tinted color which for me, was kind of irritating. The story of the movie is very confusing.
From the first 30 mins of the movie, I had guessed that there was some one feeding the mercenaries information as to the location of Frost (And what a cold name for a rouge agent , Tobin Frost, it’s sure to strike fear in the heart of his enemies). The movie could have been made much better if they had revealed the identity of the leak and then weave a better story around that. But probably the Director wants us to focus on that mystery. There are too many shoot outs in the movie – If I’m right, there is one near the consulate, one in the safe house, one in the stadium, one in the slums and the last one in the other safe house. There was also many car chases. Maybe the director wanted us to be amazed at the number of shoot outs and car chases he could squeeze into one movie.
But not only is the story that let the movie down, but also the character. Tobin Frost is supposed to be some great CIA Agent who goes rouge. He has killed many agents and he’s an expert at psychological manipulation. So basically the CIA thinks that he is capable of mind control.
The action sequences were not very great either. But on the bright side, Ryan Renolds shows that he can actually act. Denzel Washington’s acting wasn’t great. The poster for the movie is uninspiring. The movie has a very cheesy tag line: “No one is safe”
‘Safe House’ tries to be a Bourne kind of thriller but fails miserably. But if you are going to watch this movie for the senseless action then probably you’d like it.
Final Verdict: 4/10